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Thompson: A fitting end to the Oakland era as Raiders dish one last heartbreak
By Marcus Thompson II Dec 15, 2019 35
This is how the second Oakland era should end, a choke job worthy of the franchise’s commitment to excellence. One last gut punch to the loyal fans of the East Bay.
The season isn’t over. The Raiders, 6-8, still have two more road games. But Sunday’s performance, likely the last in Oakland, was a tip of the cap to the last 25 years, a flameout worthy of the legacy of ineptitude. The Raiders coughed up a 13-point lead by allowing 17 unanswered points in the second half, losing 20-16. To the lowly Jacksonville Jaguars.
“And the Oakland-Alameda Coliseum goes silent,” one of the Jaguars assistant coaches mocked from the booth next to the press box.
Most finale games are about remembering the good times. But for the Raiders, it’s really about the hard times, the heart-piercing defeats and shame-inducing failures. There have been many.
This field, on which they will likely never play again, is a map of agony Raiders fans have endured together, collective suffering that makes them so passionate, and makes the good times mean that much more.
The 4-yard line, on the left hashmark, in front of the Black Hole. That’s where — on Jan. 14, 2001 — Tony Siragusa landed his 6-foot-3, 342-pound frame on top of Rich Gannon, injuring his shoulder and knocking him out of the 2001 AFC Championship Game in Oakland. Bobby Hoying had to finish the game. The Raiders lost 16-3, missing out on a spot in the Super Bowl.
At the 40-yard line, near the left hash mark, just shy of the logo at midfield, that’s where Derek Carr was twisted down and broke his fibula in 2016. It was Week 16. The Raiders were on the verge of going 12-3, and down went their MVP. Just like that, their first winning season since 2002 was done.
Sunday brought out those memories more than anything.
“I’d like to say we could’ve sent the Raiders fans off with a lot better finish than that,” Jon Gruden said. “I think most importantly, before we talk about the game, is I’d like to thank the fans. I’d like to thank the city of Oakland for supporting the Raiders and being faithful in all kinds of seasons. I’ll miss them. I love them and I’m sorry about the outcome today.”
The common sentiment is that the fans deserved more. And that’s true. But that’s beside the point. The truth is, Raiders fans didn’t need better performances to be Raiders fans.
Sunday’s performance was the rightful end to an era — a raucous crowd partied before the game and turned up during the game. They were ready to celebrate. Another missed postseason, another losing campaign didn’t matter. The prospect of a last home win was enough.
That’s what stood out Sunday, the amazing loyalty and fervor of Raiders fans. There are Raiders fans across the nation. But the epicenter is here, in Oakland, where the culture of a jilted fan base has willed itself into a nation. And they didn’t need championships or postseason victories. They have been defined by rabid energy, a relentless hope. Their unconditional love for the Raiders was so strong, it has convinced the franchise it is better off in Las Vegas, presuming the passion will follow them.
Sunday crystalized just how much the Raiders have been through. How much they’ve been let down, embarrassed, disappointed.
Since the Raiders returned to Oakland in 1995, they’ve managed just four winning seasons. Sunday’s loss guaranteed they won’t get a fifth this year. Life as East Bay Raiders fans, now twice spurned despite their love, has been about enduring heartbreak and sports-related traumas. But those hard times were foundational to the spirit and resilience that has come to define Raiders fans. The rough edges and perennial hope, the communal inclinations of the fan base, it was all forged by enduring Raiders hardships.
The brighter days never came. The championship to make it all worth it never arrived. So the Raiders leave with one last scar to commemorate this relationship steeped in heartache.
The Raiders had a chance to win it, but Carr couldn’t produce one last touchdown. When the drive stalled, Daniel Carlson missed a 50-yard field goal. He got another attempt after a Jacksonville penalty for running into the kicker moved him 5 yards closer. Carlson missed again.
Then a backup quarterback named Gardner Minshew II drove the Jaguars 65 yards in seven plays, winning the game with a 4-yard touchdown to Chris Conley.
It wasn’t the first time a game-winning touchdown crushed the Raiders. The back of the end zone, by the goal post, above the “D” in Raiders, that’s where Calvin Johnson caught a game-winning touchdown in 2011. The Lions marched 98 yards for the go-ahead score, handing the Raiders their third straight loss and knocking them out of the playoff hunt after they started 7-4.
A few feet to the left of that spot, above where the “A” is now in Raiders, is where Andre Rison did the same thing in 1997. He caught the game-winning touchdown on a Monday night — from Elvis Grbac — to beat the Raiders in the final seconds.
Oh, man. Raiders fans have endured some nightmares together on Monday nights. They’ve had some great moments in prime time, for sure, including Jerry Rice catching his 200th touchdown in Denver in 2002. But there have been some embarrassments handed out in Oakland.
Remember the 2008 opener, when D’Angelo Hall was the big acquisition, how badly he and the rest of the Raiders secondary got torched by Denver’s Jay Cutler and rookie receiver Eddie Royal? That was a Monday night. It was the second time in three years the Raiders opened the season by getting drubbed on Monday night. In 2006, LaDanian Tomlinson rushed for 131 yards as the San Diego Chargers beat the Raiders, 27-0, in Oakland.
The most memorable though was probably on Dec. 22, 2003. Brett Favre’s father died the day before and the Packers quarterback could do no wrong that night against the Raiders. He was in a zone typified by a bomb he threw to Javon Walker. Favre was hit as he threw and lobbed a pass that traveled 55 yards in the air, with Walker coming down with it over Phillip Buchanon and Anthony Dorsett. Favre was in mourning, but that night Raiders fans were the ones grieving in front of the nation.
Those losses became badges of honor, evidence of the strength of the relationship. They didn’t chase Raiders fans away. They should be a fledgling few. Yet, they’ve been riders the whole way.
The phenomenon reminds of a line from CeeLo Green. Long before he was the frontman for the pop duo Gnarls Barkley, he was a rapper with the Atlanta rap group Goodie Mob. On their “Soul Food” album, on a song called “Thought Process,” he best summarized an ideology that’s akin to being a Raiders fan:
It would be kinda nice to have mo’
But I kinda like being po’
At least I know what my friends here fo’
Being a Raiders fan has been NFL poverty. It wasn’t always this way. In their first 22 seasons in Oakland, the Raiders had a winning record 17 times, won two Super Bowls, lost another and reached seven other AFC Championship Games. And then they left for Los Angeles. But since they returned to Oakland, it’s been a quarter-century of heartburn.
There is no such thing as a bandwagon Raiders fan. They’ve been fully initiated into the nation of heartache. They’ve earned their every moment, every pregame bite, every mid-game swig, every postgame rant. And if you were outside that stadium before the game, it was clear why. The struggle of being a Raider fan has been a unifying force. They’ve built a community of the scorned, who have a good time with each other to massage the frustration their team causes them.
And that frustration is aplenty.
Remember when Randy Moss came back to the Coliseum with the Patriots in 2008, after a disappointing stint with Oakland, and caught two touchdown passes from backup quarterback Matt Cassel? After each, Moss turned to the Black Hole and pointed at his name on the back of his jersey. The Raiders defense let Moss come back in here and disrespect them.
Oh, man. The Raiders defense has been disrespected quite a bit over the years, huh? Remember when Nick Foles threw for 406 yards and seven touchdowns for the Eagles in 2013? Six weeks later, Chiefs running back Jamaal Charles scored five touchdowns and had 195 yards receiving because the Raiders couldn’t stop a screen pass.
How much could a fanbase take? Raiders Nation was game. Throwback in their hardcoreness, old school in their appreciation of pain.
The Raiders honored that history, that legacy, with one last moment of humiliation. Ain’t no Hollywood endings in these parts anyway. The chip on the shoulder, the edge that makes them special, is born of slights and struggle.
In the fourth quarter of Sunday’s Oakland finale, the Raiders revealed the results for the greatest moment in Raiders history. It was Marcus Allen’s reverse-the-field touchdown run in Super Bowl XVIII. They even cut to Allen, who was in a booth and received a nice ovation.
At the Coliseum finale, culminating the Raiders’ history in Oakland, the greatest moment selected was from the Raiders’ time in Los Angeles.
Then to cap off the disrespect, the Jaguars once-backup quarterback orchestrated the game-winning drive in the face of the Black Hole.
“I probably saw more middle fingers today than I have in my whole life,” Minshew said. “These fans have a good time, though, and it was fun to ruin that for them.”
Hollywood couldn’t craft a more perfect ending for the Raiders’ time in Oakland.
— Reported from Oakland
(Photo: Daniel Shirey / Getty Images
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